Nyingchi’s morning is a little bit cold even in spring days.  

Wearing woolen hats and black leather coats, two old Tibetan men, Dorje and Palden from Bome County of Nyingchi City went to watch the opening ceremony for the local peach blossom festival.    

The two 76-year-old men were in good spirits. Dorje even itched to have a try while watching the performance.  

Dorje was quite thrilled when asked whether he had been into dancing since young. “I started dancing after I graduated at 18. We used to be serfs and had no place to stay together.”  

Both Dorje and Palden were born in impoverished families. Time does not erase their painful memories of the past days.  

Dorje said life was kind of miserable. When he was five years old, his father died and his mother supported six kids by labor work. The family only had tsampa gunk to eat for one meal a day, so they had to look for wild fruits to kill the hunger.  

“Mom, I am attenuated by hunger.” “Sorry, honey, I've reached the end of my tether.” Dorje laughed when thinking of the conversation with his mother.  

Palden’s family was as bad as Dorje’s. Palden’s mother asked her five elder kids to get away from the famine-stricken hometown and only kept Palden, the youngest son. But at last, life still forced his mother to send him to a local monstery.  

Buddhists’ life was tough then. Palden ran away from the monastery when he was 16. Luckily, he met two officers who were recruiting Tibetan kids to study in inland. Palden signed up and became one of the kids.  

Palden went back to Tibet after studying in Minzu University of China in Beijing for three years. It took Palden five days to walk to Bome from Nyingchi. Since then he devoted himself to constructing Bome.  

Meanwhile, Dorje ushered in a turning point in his life. He became a worker to guard public security in 1959.   

Now, after retirement, these two aged Tibetan men are savoring their happy later life.   

Dorje said, “Life now is filled with happiness only.” He also joins the local guozhuang (circle dance) team for entertainment.   

Having a lot of stories to share, Palden plans to write an autobiography.